4 You Must Acquit
The case went something like this: Ohio, 1871. A man was shot and killed in a bar fight. The defendant’s attorney, Clement Vallandigham, argued that the victim had actually killed himself while trying to draw his pistol from his pocket while in a kneeling position. To prove the plausibility, he demonstrated this act to the jury, grabbing a gun he believed to be unloaded. He killed himself in the process, and in doing so, proved his own point. The defendant, Thomas McGehan, was acquitted.
